Wisdom

A little learning is a dangerous thing;

Old politicians chew on wisdom past,

This was the end, Echekrates, of our friend; a man of whom we may say that of all whom we met at that time he was the wisest and justest and best.

If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

May He support us all the day long, till the shades lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done! Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last.

The first and wisest of them all professed

How charming is divine philosophy!

It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.

Death never takes the wise man by surprise; he is always ready to go.

Nothing in the world—indeed nothing even beyond the world—can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

A man may write at any time, if he will set himself doggedly to it.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

Where ignorance is bliss,

Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.

Just trust yourself and you’ll learn the art of living.

Some are weather-wise, some are otherwise.

At eighteen our convictions are hills from which we look; at forty-five they are caves in which we hide.

Everything has two handles, by one of which it ought to be carried and by the other not.

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?

Common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen.

The wise, for cure, on exercise depend;

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;

For it is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.